Sigma Phi Epsilon - University of Illinois

J im McGreevy '69 announced plans for another SigEp reunion called "50 Something." Mark your calendar for a great weekend September 13-15, 2019, in Champaign. More details will follow, but the plan is to keep the same basic approach as our past reunions. We will get a special block of hotel rooms, and have a Friday late-aernoon reception with dining at or near the hotel. Saturday will be house and campus tours, an Illinois home football game against Eastern Michigan, barbecue, trivia, old movies and photos, dinner, and an evening gathering. Sunday will be hotel breakfast, visits, and more campus tours. We want to reach out to others from our era (roughly 1965-1973, but all are welcome). So far over 30 plan to come. If you plan to attend, email Jim at mcgreevy@ameritech.net. Mike "Surf " Andrews '69 volunteered to coordinate and update bio and photo info. More to follow, but Surf welcomes any memories, stories, or photos you might have. You can contact him at mandrmath@comcast.net. 4 "50 Something" Alumni Reunion Set for September 2019 W hile growing up in the rural farming community of Sheffield, Illinois, the world seemed bigger and bigger as Conrad Hewitt '58 began to venture out of his hometown of 1,110 people. But in each stage of Conrad's life, none ended up being too big for him. Conrad was forced to step outside of his comfort zone at the University of Illinois, where he went on to pledge Sigma Phi Epsilon as a sophomore. "I was not exposed to a higher level of educational courses, brotherhood, and a sophisticated social life," said Conrad of his life before college. "SigEp helped me to learn normal social manners, living with diverse brothers, study habits, involvement in extracurricular activities, and leadership. All which helped me in my later life to be successful." Conrad started working at Commercial National Bank in Peoria aer earning his B.S. in finance, but his career path took an abrupt turn when he was called to active duty in the Air Force. He was assigned to the Pentagon, and spent much of the next 3 ½ years at the Strategic Air Command Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, with the of- fice of auditor general. e long-term goals of Conrad shied to the auditing field since the Air Force had an auditing school and did not have banks. Conrad had a job waiting for him at Ernst & Ernst, Los Angeles, which eventually became Ernst & Young, aer his military service was complete. He served as an area marketing partner for the Hawaii, Northwest (Seattle), and Northern California (San Francisco) offices. "My experiences with Ernst & Young were fantastic and beyond of any great, high-level goals that I had imag- ined," Conrad said. "It was not easy with a degree in finance to make the big transition to the ac- counting arena. I did a lot of recruiting and was able to grow my new partners in each of my new assignments." Aer 33 years at Ernst & Young, Conrad became Superintendent of Banks for the State of Califor- nia, and created a new Department of Financial Institutions for the State of California and was its first commissioner. He then joined a number of private and public company boards, but had to step down when he became the chief accountant of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in 2006 in Washington, D.C. "I felt that this high-level position in the federal government was a great way to cap my diverse ca- reer and be able to contribute my expertise to the accounting, audit- ing, and public company world," Conrad said. "I did not know that the financial crisis would be the challenge for me. Being named as one of the Top 100 Most Influen- tial People in Accounting in 2007 was unexpected and truly an honor and recogni- tion beyond any of my goals and successes." roughout all of Conrad's success, he has still stayed in touch with SigEp brothers such as Skip Peterson '58, Gordon Johns '58, Larry Showley '59, and Dean Jones '59 before he entered Chap- ter Eternal. Conrad still does some selective con- sulting, but has enjoyed being able to play more golf and travel with his wife, Linda. You can con- tact Conrad at hewcon36@yahoo.com. "Please support Illinois Alpha," Conrad said. "ey are making us GREAT again!" SigEp Served as Spark to Success for CONRAD HEWITT '58 ACCOUNTING ACCOLADES From left: Ken Manon '69, Ken Ladage '66, Tom Gaikowski '69, Frank Lindberg '66, John Brubaker '68, Don Gilliard '72, Surf Andrews '69, John Rahn '71, and Jim McGreevy '69 plan next year's "50 Something" reunion.

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